General Help


About Java
About ESA

Ethno, the Event Structure Analysis (ESA) program, was written in the Java programming language by David Heise. Complete documentation for the program is available here.

About Java

The great benefit of Java is that a Java program runs on any computer - Wintel, Unix, Macintosh, etc. However, Ethno started as a Java applet, and Java has stringent security restrictions regarding applets. Therefore Ethno cannot write files to your computer. This means that saving your work involves a special procedure, which is described in the Help document in the section on Import-Export.

About ESA

Event Structure Analysis is a qualitative methodology for understanding sequential events. Prerequisite analysis focuses on how the events are connected logically. The program draws a chart showing the prerequisite structure. Composition analysis focuses on how the events link people and things. The program creates tables showing how a narrative associates people with each other and with non-human entities.

Event structure analysis is a substantial topic with its own literature. Check the ESA Reference page, which contains links to some on-line versions of papers.

The following table outlines procedures for conducting analyses with Ethno. Each column displays steps involved in a particular kind of analysis. "Careful" and "Thorough" analyses involve more work. However, these kinds of analyses also provide you with more information as you perform analytic tasks, enhancing the quality of interpretations and judgments.

Prerequisite Analyses Composition Analyses

Quick Careful Thorough Careful Thorough

Copy a narrative text into ESA to save quotes with events. Copy a narrative text into ESA to save quotes with events.
Copy a narrative text into ESA to save quotes with events.

Enter sequence of short names. Enter sequence of short names. Enter sequence of short names. Enter sequence of short names. Enter sequence of short names.

Define relevant entities, people and acts, and specify each event's agent, act, object, instrument, alignment, setting, product, and beneficiary. Define relevant entities, people and acts, and specify each event's agent, act, object, instrument, alignment, setting, product, and beneficiary. Define relevant entities, people and acts, and specify each event's agent, act, object, instrument, alignment, setting, product, and beneficiary.

Compute associations of key people and entities. Compute associations of key people and entities.

Define abstract types and compute their associations.

Enter full sentence descriptions of each event. Enter full sentence descriptions of each event.

Link the events Link the events Link the events

Eliminate unneeded detail with summary events. Eliminate unneeded detail with summary events.

Test the model to refine it. Test the model to refine it. Test the model to refine it.

Specify and test a generalized model.

Prerequisite Analyses			Composition Analyses
Quick	Careful	Thorough	Careful	Thorough
	Copy a narrative text into ESA to save quotes with events.	Copy a narrative text into ESA to save quotes with events.		Copy a narrative text into ESA to save quotes with events.
Enter sequence of short names.	Enter sequence of short names.	Enter sequence of short names.	Enter sequence of short names.	Enter sequence of short names.
		Define relevant entities, people and acts, and specify each event's agent, act, object, instrument, alignment, setting, product, and beneficiary.	Define relevant entities, people and acts, and specify each event's agent, act, object, instrument, alignment, setting, product, and beneficiary.	Define relevant entities, people and acts, and specify each event's agent, act, object, instrument, alignment, setting, product, and beneficiary.
			Compute associations of key people and entities.	Compute associations of key people and entities.
				Define abstract types and compute their associations.
	Enter full sentence descriptions of each event.	Enter full sentence descriptions of each event.
Link the events	Link the events	Link the events
	Eliminate unneeded detail with summary events.	Eliminate unneeded detail with summary events.
Test the model to refine it.	Test the model to refine it.	Test the model to refine it.
		Specify and test a generalized model.